Supreme Court upholds sentence for Sýkorovci leader

ONE OF the bosses of the Sýkorovci organised-crime group, Ladislav Bališ, will spend 25 years in prison. This stems from a ruling issued by the Supreme Court on May 13, which dismissed Bališ’s appeal against an earlier Specialised Criminal Court decision.

ONE OF the bosses of the Sýkorovci organised-crime group, Ladislav Bališ, will spend 25 years in prison. This stems from a ruling issued by the Supreme Court on May 13, which dismissed Bališ’s appeal against an earlier Specialised Criminal Court decision.

“He certainly knew that he would not be released,” said Svetozár Chabada, Bališ’s lawyer, shortly after the verdict was issued, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

In addition to Bališ, nicknamed Dlhý (Long) Laco, another six members of the group will also go to prison. The Supreme Court upheld the original sentences for Viliam Rafael and Richard Šulka, who will spend 25 years in prison, and for Peter Disltler, who was given 22 years in prison. The court also decreased the prison sentences for Filip Nerád from 23 to 20 years, for Marek Študent from 20 to 14 years, and Roman Stojka from 13 to 10 years. All of them will serve out their sentences in maximum-security prisons, the TASR newswire wrote.

According to Martin Piovartsy, chair of the Supreme Court senate, some sentences proposed by the Specialised Supreme Court were too strict. The court also dismissed the appeal of the prosecutor who, conversely, considered the sentences for Rafael, Šulka, Distler and Študent, too mild.

The prosecutor from the Special Prosecutor’s Office considers the verdict legal and fair. According to him, some of the accused members of the Sýkorovci group have cooperated with police in investigations of other crimes, which has resulted in charges in two other cases, he said, as reported by TASR.

Source: TASR

Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports

The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.

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